Enterprise 01-08-03

[Mark]

Off the top of my head I can't think of any other series on television that doesn't have an overiding story arc to it. Babylon 5 had it. Andromeda has it. Most have it. It's a sign of moving with the times, I guess.

If your friends jumped off a cliff... I'm not convinced that a show cannot be just as engaging without such an arc. And let's not forget that I'm just suggesting it doesn't require a series-arc. Double episodes (such as the cliff-hangers), certainly individual episodes, and perhaps several consecutive episodes can all have their own arcs. The shows you mention above do just that even under the series-arc that exists. "No series-arc" does not mean that there is no story at all, but just that the series can be written with less restrictions on where it might be headed come seven years down the road.

To take that a step further, there is no reason why character-arcs cannot exist without a series-arc. These can be altered along the way, but we can certainly say that so-and-so is going to be bumped off by season X or that so-and-so will be promoted by season X, etc.

That being said, I like the temporal cold war angle. As for where are the Suliban in later episodes, and where is Captain Braxton, well that's the funny thing about timelines... apparently they can be altered However, I think the temporal cold war could be an excuse for the writers to not have to follow continuity as much.

Pesky continuity! It may not be the reasoning behind using that story line in the first place, but it seems to have been a by-product, at the least.

Notice how it isn't called Star Trek: Enterprise? I think this is because it is supposed to be kind of a stand-alone show, somehow disjointed from the rest of Star Trek.

It would seem that TNG, DS9 and Voyager all shared an overlapping timeline, but TOS was much earlier, of course. That being the case, and if Enterprise is meant to also stand alone, doesn't that mean that Enterprise could follow the same no-series-arc formula? Just a thought...

 

[Eternalknight]

True. Character arks, within episode arcs, within series arcs would work, there is no denying that. Of course, earlier you said that maybe they coul give the temporal cold war a rest for now... well they haven't used it yet in season 2 (except for the first episode), so they may be doing just that. My gut feeling is the Romulans will be the recurring villain for season 2.

Now, to get thread back on topic.... <i>Dawn</i> was an average episode, not good, not bad. I only got to see it tonight (I have a friend over there that tapes it for me).

Does anyone know when the next new episode is supposed to be?

 

[Mark]

True. Character arks, within episode arcs, within series arcs would work, there is no denying that. Of course, earlier you said that maybe they coul give the temporal cold war a rest for now... well they haven't used it yet in season 2 (except for the first episode), so they may be doing just that. My gut feeling is the Romulans will be the recurring villain for season 2.

I think we need to have a bit more action with the Klingons before we going dancing with the Romulans.

Now, to get thread back on topic.... <i>Dawn</i> was an average episode, not good, not bad. I only got to see it tonight (I have a friend over there that tapes it for me).

That's a good friend, indeed.

Does anyone know when the next new episode is supposed to be?

It's at least a couple of weeks here. This week is Marauders (Yr 2, Ep 6 [32]) - Crew helps overthrow Klingon oppressors of a deuterium mining colony. Next week is The Seventh (Yr 2, Ep 7 [33]) - T'Pol has odd flashbacks while on a Vulcan mission aprehending a fugitive. I am not sure beyond that.

 

[Eternalknight]

I think we need to have a bit more action with the Klingons before we going dancing with the Romulans.

Agreed

That's a good friend, indeed.

Certainly is.

It's at least a couple of weeks here. This week is Marauders (Yr 2, Ep 6 [32]) - Crew helps overthrow Klingon oppressors of a deuterium mining colony. Next week is The Seventh (Yr 2, Ep 7 [33]) - T'Pol has odd flashbacks while on a Vulcan mission aprehending a fugitive. I am not sure beyond that.

Ah thanks.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

TNG did not have a series-arc or storyline. It hat some "recurring villains" (and allies), if you want it to call this way, but TNG would have worked without Q or similar ones.

Deep Space Nine had, to some extent, always some kind of storyline, but it was at first not exactly defined. The first storyline (which is easily "undervalued") is the growing up of bajor and the accomponied politics - the second came up when the Dominion appeared...

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[John Crichton]

On Trek series themes/arcs/stories:

DS9 definitely had the whole "Emissary" thing going for it. I never really liked it and was much more interested in the Dominion Wars. But they didn't do a bad job with it. And I wouldn't say that it was the show's focus. It was the focus of the Sisko character, but not the entire series. Keep in mind that DS9 broke the Trek mold with it's focus not completely on the captain. While the captain was the overall centerpiece, the rest of the cast was used significantly more than any of the 2 series before it.

TNG was bookended by Q-centric episodes. And most of the episodes involving that character were quality, however Picard's relationship with Q was not the main arc of TNG. One could argue that because of what was learned in the final episode that the series was based off their relationship because Picard essentially "saved" humanity by proving the continuum that he could think on a higher level. I disagree with that. Just because an "adversary" is recurring doesn't make the series revolve around it. To agree with an above poster, I honestly don't think TNG had an overall storyarc.

As for Voyager, I didn't watch enough of it to really see an overall arc besides the Borg being involved a lot. Feh. I'll just have to take a pass on this one I guess...

TOS was simply about exploration so there was certainly not an overall story arc there.

And as for Enterprise, just because we have had about a half dozen eps about the Temporal Cold War and just because the producers have made mention that it is one of the stories going on doesn't have to mean the series revolves around it completely. There will be many more episodes devoted to it, I'm sure but I'm thinking that it's still all about exploration, survival, adaptation and humanity's first venture into deep space.

And I think most of us can agree that in all of Trek, the most entertaining episodes and storylines have dealt with aforementioned character story arcs not the overall series story. Personal battles are always the most interesting. It's one of the reasons why soap operas are so popular.

So I don't really care if the producers have a series story planned. As long as the characters go through changes, overcome/lose personal challenges and evolve naturall over the run of the show, I'm a happy camper.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

As for Voyager, I didn't watch enough of it to really see an overall arc besides the Borg being involved a lot. Feh. I'll just have to take a pass on this one I guess...

As long as the characters go through changes, overcome/lose personal challenges and evolve naturall over the run of the show, I'm a happy camper.

Ah, this seems to fit (just some random Voyager Bashing)

Voyager`s story arc was getting home, I think...

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[mojo1701]

I liked the idea of Voyager getting home; it opens up the floor for some unique story lines.

 

[Ranger REG]

First of all, I'd like to say, "Hi, REG! Thanks for recommending this website back under my thread on the HoloNet!"

No prob.

Second of all, wasn't the Tal Shiar more or less destroyed in an episode of DS9?

If you mean the Romulan Tal Shiar and the Cardassian Obsidian Order that joined forces to rid the Dominion but fell into a Jem'Hadar trap, not all of them were present at that ambush. I'd like to think that Major Sela did not participate in that secretive mission either, since it was Garak's father who was retired from the Tal Shiar that lead this.

After all, many episodes later, the new head of the Tal Shiar happens to be a starfleet operative (see DS9, "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges").

Third, I also don't understand why Major Sela (or the whole Spock-Reunification story) weren't in Nemesis.

It would be too expensive to cast Leonard Nimoy, aka Mr. Spock, although I would have tried if I were head of the franchise. Then again, if I gave him that script, I'd expect to be laughed at.

Don't know what happened with Denise Crosby. They managed to get Wil Wheaton ("Wesley Crusher") and Whoopi Goldberg ("Guinan") to appear. It's possible they couldn't do to scheduling conflict (i.e., she's busy doing something).

 

[Ranger REG]

TNG did not have a series-arc or storyline. It hat some "recurring villains" (and allies), if you want it to call this way, but TNG would have worked without Q or similar ones.

I don't know. TNG have a few story arcs, such as Worf's story when the Klingon Council wanted to officially declare his father Mogh as a traitor and therefore stigmatized the bloodline. That led to Worf being discommended and exiled from the Klingon Empire. His story is later visited when the Klingon Chanceller is dying and a successor must be chosen. That arc connects with his brief romance with a half-Klingon Kehley'r who returns with a surprise: his son Alexander. His mate was then killed by one of the candidate and he in turns killed him, leaving the sole candidate to succeed (that's Gowron).

Of course, later on, Gowron's leadership have been questioned by the Duras family...

I don't need to go further, you'll have to pick up the DVD collections. But that's a good way to make a story arc, IMHO.

Deep Space Nine had, to some extent, always some kind of storyline, but it was at first not exactly defined. The first storyline (which is easily "undervalued") is the growing up of bajor and the accomponied politics - the second came up when the Dominion appeared...

Actually, I thought the first storyline is about Federation relations with their two neighbors, the formerly occupied Bajor and the former occupant Cardassia. That and the continuing story arc that revolves around the Federation-Cardassian Treaty which resulted in the establishment of the Maquis.